Brendan
@brendan17.bsky.social
A lawyer,* not your lawyer. Opinions mine, & RTs ≠ endorsements. (admitted in NY, not CA)
Yesterday, I saw an LA screening of My Undesirable Friends Part I, a documentary about independent Russian journalists in the months leading up to the Ukraine invasion. It's *very* good. While it is a serious commitment (5.5 hours, albeit broken into 5 parts), I cannot recommend enough.
November 9, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Yesterday, I saw an LA screening of My Undesirable Friends Part I, a documentary about independent Russian journalists in the months leading up to the Ukraine invasion. It's *very* good. While it is a serious commitment (5.5 hours, albeit broken into 5 parts), I cannot recommend enough.
Not if those of us who care about privacy have anything to say about it
Larry Ellison envisions a surveillance state in which techbros rule. '“Citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on,” Ellison said in an hour-long Q&A during Oracle’s Financial Analyst Meeting last week.'
Larry Ellison predicts rise of the modern surveillance state where ‘citizens will be on their best behavior’ | Fortune
Oracle's Larry Ellison believes citizens and police alike will be under constant surveillance of each other.
fortune.com
September 28, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Not if those of us who care about privacy have anything to say about it
Reposted by Brendan
If you are wondering whether you should have seen One Battle After Another on film in an IMAX theatre tonight I’m sorry to say you probably should have
September 25, 2025 at 9:07 AM
If you are wondering whether you should have seen One Battle After Another on film in an IMAX theatre tonight I’m sorry to say you probably should have
Reposted by Brendan
Waiting to see whether Kimmel had to agree to be muzzled as a condition of going back on-air, because that's something the public needs to know. It's not a victory if he goes back on the air with a list of things he's secretly never allowed to talk about anymore, guests he can't have on, etc.
September 22, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Waiting to see whether Kimmel had to agree to be muzzled as a condition of going back on-air, because that's something the public needs to know. It's not a victory if he goes back on the air with a list of things he's secretly never allowed to talk about anymore, guests he can't have on, etc.
I'm glad to see that undercutting our First Amendment rights was not completely for nothing. Oh, wait.
The TikTok ownership deal outlined by the Trump Administration on Monday solves none of the purported problems that the ban legislation was supposed to address, but instead creates new problems.
EFF Statement on TikTok Ownership Deal
One of the reasons we opposed the TikTok "ban" is that the First Amendment is supposed to protect us against government using its power to manipulate speech. But as predicted, the TikTok "ban" has onl...
www.eff.org
September 23, 2025 at 12:44 AM
I'm glad to see that undercutting our First Amendment rights was not completely for nothing. Oh, wait.
Reposted by Brendan
scramble you little shits, scramble
Disney Didn't Expect What Happened After Jimmy Kimmel's Cancellation - & Is Scrambling To Fix It
Now it's scrambling.
screenrant.com
September 19, 2025 at 10:45 PM
scramble you little shits, scramble
Reposted by Brendan
Plus also don't write that "they have changed their views" -- their views have not changed. The only thing that has changed is that you are now seeing that their views were not sincerely held.
As a favor to me, if you write about this Administration’s free speech positions, avoid giving them too much credit by calling the “hypocrites.” They were NEVER SINCERE about freedom of speech as a value. It was only occasionally a useful cudgel for them to preserve societal and official power.
September 19, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Plus also don't write that "they have changed their views" -- their views have not changed. The only thing that has changed is that you are now seeing that their views were not sincerely held.
"Rogue Office Depot employee" got a legit lol out of me
"There is no actual purpose to it, no broader program in it, nothing but the belief that all these cruelties are allowed, now, and so might replace any other right and every other thing that had come before." defector.com/the-united-s...
The United States Of Snitches | Defector
On Saturday, the chairman of the Republican Party in Michigan’s Oakland County spent his afternoon directing his online followers’ attention to local businesses that had not lowered their flags to…
defector.com
September 19, 2025 at 7:42 AM
"Rogue Office Depot employee" got a legit lol out of me
Reposted by Brendan
variety.com/2025/tv/news...
This is what corporate collaboration with a fascist takeover of a formerly liberal democratic country looks like:
Jimmy Kimmel Live Replaced With Charlie Kirk Tribute; Sinclair Demands Apology
This is what corporate collaboration with a fascist takeover of a formerly liberal democratic country looks like:
Jimmy Kimmel Live Replaced With Charlie Kirk Tribute; Sinclair Demands Apology
‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ Replaced With Charlie Kirk Tribute on Sinclair’s ABC Stations; Company Demands Kimmel Apologize and Donate to Kirk’s Family and Turning Point USA
Sinclair will air a Charlie Kirk tribute special in Jimmy Kimmel's timeslot on Friday, and is demanding that the host donate to Kirk's family.
variety.com
September 18, 2025 at 3:03 AM
variety.com/2025/tv/news...
This is what corporate collaboration with a fascist takeover of a formerly liberal democratic country looks like:
Jimmy Kimmel Live Replaced With Charlie Kirk Tribute; Sinclair Demands Apology
This is what corporate collaboration with a fascist takeover of a formerly liberal democratic country looks like:
Jimmy Kimmel Live Replaced With Charlie Kirk Tribute; Sinclair Demands Apology
Reposted by Brendan
ABC: Always Be Caving
September 18, 2025 at 4:46 AM
ABC: Always Be Caving
Reposted by Brendan
There was a HUGE contingent of very hacky comics who went anti-Biden/pro-Trump claiming that "woke scolds" were "canceling comedy."
Feels like maybe they should be speaking up?
Feels like maybe they should be speaking up?
“You used to be able to say anything” comedians never been more quiet in their lives
September 18, 2025 at 4:25 AM
There was a HUGE contingent of very hacky comics who went anti-Biden/pro-Trump claiming that "woke scolds" were "canceling comedy."
Feels like maybe they should be speaking up?
Feels like maybe they should be speaking up?
Reposted by Brendan
for sale: institutional spines. never used.
September 17, 2025 at 11:11 PM
for sale: institutional spines. never used.
Reposted by Brendan
Review: "Paul Thomas Anderson insists, in #OneBattleAfterAnother’s glorious and just-shy-of-corny final seconds, that there is still something like a future out there, past the smoke and ruin, worth struggling toward, inch by agonizing inch" bit.ly/42y61Kn
September 17, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Review: "Paul Thomas Anderson insists, in #OneBattleAfterAnother’s glorious and just-shy-of-corny final seconds, that there is still something like a future out there, past the smoke and ruin, worth struggling toward, inch by agonizing inch" bit.ly/42y61Kn
For me, the sun rises & sets with Heat.
September 17, 2025 at 3:35 AM
For me, the sun rises & sets with Heat.
Reposted by Brendan
Sale to rich lackey it is!
* ORACLE, SILVER LAKE, ANDREESSEN TO CONTROL TIKOK IN US: WSJ
$ORCL
$ORCL
September 16, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Sale to rich lackey it is!
Reposted by Brendan
Clay Higgins saying there are no 230 protections for companies that don't suppress people celebrating Kirk's death is not just wrong on the law but a very clear attack on First Amendment protected speech.
This is actual government jawboning in pursuit of silencing disfavored views.
This is actual government jawboning in pursuit of silencing disfavored views.
This is an abuse of government authority from Rep. Clay Higgins. It's jawboning. It's a violation of the First Amendment. And Americans on the left and right *must* condemn it.
The government using censorship to "protect" speech is utterly repulsive.
clayhiggins.house.gov/wp-content/u...
The government using censorship to "protect" speech is utterly repulsive.
clayhiggins.house.gov/wp-content/u...
September 17, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Clay Higgins saying there are no 230 protections for companies that don't suppress people celebrating Kirk's death is not just wrong on the law but a very clear attack on First Amendment protected speech.
This is actual government jawboning in pursuit of silencing disfavored views.
This is actual government jawboning in pursuit of silencing disfavored views.
Moral convictions against pressuring intermediaries to censor protected speech
homer simpson from the simpsons is standing in front of a grassy field .
ALT: homer simpson from the simpsons is standing in front of a grassy field .
media.tenor.com
September 15, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Moral convictions against pressuring intermediaries to censor protected speech
What I'm really looking for from my OS is for it to be a recording device that can't understand what I say
Microsoft's Windows lead has teased the future of Windows will be more ambient, pervasive, and multi-modal in the wake of AI, promoting voice as a primary input method for using your PC. www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/wi...
Microsoft's Windows lead says the next version of Windows will be "more ambient, pervasive, and multi-modal" as AI redefines the desktop interface
In a new video, Microsoft CVP and Windows boss Pavan Davuluri has teased that the future of Windows will consist of a truly ambient and multi-modal experience made possible by AI that will redefine…
www.windowscentral.com
August 14, 2025 at 6:40 AM
What I'm really looking for from my OS is for it to be a recording device that can't understand what I say
My Chemical Fling
The Notorious L.A.R.G.E.I.S.H.
The Regional
August 13, 2025 at 2:33 AM
My Chemical Fling
Reposted by Brendan
6 days after Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, a Prague paper published these “10 Commandments”:
‘When a Soviet soldier comes to you, YOU:
1. Don’t know
2. Don’t care
3. Don’t tell
4. Don’t have
5. Don’t know how to
6. Don’t give
7. Can’t do
8. Don’t sell
9. Don’t show
10. Do nothing’
‘When a Soviet soldier comes to you, YOU:
1. Don’t know
2. Don’t care
3. Don’t tell
4. Don’t have
5. Don’t know how to
6. Don’t give
7. Can’t do
8. Don’t sell
9. Don’t show
10. Do nothing’
August 12, 2025 at 1:11 AM
6 days after Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, a Prague paper published these “10 Commandments”:
‘When a Soviet soldier comes to you, YOU:
1. Don’t know
2. Don’t care
3. Don’t tell
4. Don’t have
5. Don’t know how to
6. Don’t give
7. Can’t do
8. Don’t sell
9. Don’t show
10. Do nothing’
‘When a Soviet soldier comes to you, YOU:
1. Don’t know
2. Don’t care
3. Don’t tell
4. Don’t have
5. Don’t know how to
6. Don’t give
7. Can’t do
8. Don’t sell
9. Don’t show
10. Do nothing’
Reposted by Brendan
Our 50th anniversary streamlined edition of the Church Committee Report will be on shelves in January, but in the meantime, look at this incredible blurb we got from surveillance opponent and civil liberties champion, Senator Ron Wyden.
August 6, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Our 50th anniversary streamlined edition of the Church Committee Report will be on shelves in January, but in the meantime, look at this incredible blurb we got from surveillance opponent and civil liberties champion, Senator Ron Wyden.
Reposted by Brendan
uBlock Origin Lite is not just for Chrome/Chromium-based browsers any more. They have a new extension for Safari, and it even works on iPhone and iPads. lifehacker.com/tech/ublock-...
The Best Ad Blocker Now Works on Safari Too
You can download an official version of uBlock Origin from the App Store to use on the default iPhone, iPad, and Mac browser.
lifehacker.com
August 6, 2025 at 7:43 PM
uBlock Origin Lite is not just for Chrome/Chromium-based browsers any more. They have a new extension for Safari, and it even works on iPhone and iPads. lifehacker.com/tech/ublock-...
Reposted by Brendan
You know what’s really good for getting you off your phone and immersed in something outside your own little brain? A movie
August 6, 2025 at 1:22 AM
You know what’s really good for getting you off your phone and immersed in something outside your own little brain? A movie
Reposted by Brendan
This morning, members of the Knight Institute’s leadership team published a critical analysis of Columbia University’s settlement agreement with the Trump administration. Read the full analysis here: knightcolumbia.org/blog/what-th...
What the Columbia Settlement Really Means
knightcolumbia.org
August 4, 2025 at 2:45 PM
This morning, members of the Knight Institute’s leadership team published a critical analysis of Columbia University’s settlement agreement with the Trump administration. Read the full analysis here: knightcolumbia.org/blog/what-th...